Affordable Home Decor Haul

Hello! This was meant to be up at the beginning of the week, but I kept buying things...

 

Hanging hearts - Store Twenty One via QS - £4.99

I love these hanging hearts! They're meant to be photo frames, but I thought they'd look pretty with prints in. Of course, Cath Kidston patterns were the first ones I thought of. The middle heart just contains a pattern I found on Google images.

 

Photo box - Store Twenty One via QS - £1.99

I have some photos which have become very special in the last couple of months, due to the people in them passing on. I wanted to keep them somewhere safe, so thought this photo box would be great for that. I would like to get a beautiful photo album, but in the mean time, this will do.

 

As you can see, I've become obsessed with hanging decorations! I bought them to hang on my beauty chest of drawers.

The small silver heart can be found here for £1.75, with 65p postage.

The white metal heart can be found here for 99p, with 39p postage.

The robin ornament can be found here and costs £2.50, with 75p postage.

And the white metal birds can be found here and are priced at 99p, with 39p postage. I don't know if other people are normally sent two, but I received two. Because of this, I'm giving one away as part of a present.

Apart from the robin, they are all from the same seller, so if you are ordering more than one, you can combine the postage.

 

I also bought this hanging decoration. It doesn't go with the colour scheme of my beauty corner, so it's on my wardrobe door and contrasts beautifully with the turquoise. You can buy it here for £2.49, including P&P.

100 pearl berry lights - Primark - £7

I am so happy with my lights from Primark. I've wanted some fairy lights for a while, but didn't want tacky ones or normal Christmas tree lights. I love that these are round and look like little berries. I have a very wide window, and 100 of them are the perfect length. These are only around for Christmas, so I would buy some soon!

I hope you enjoy your weekend! My next few posts will include my favourite books of 2012, a book haul, Secret Santa/Christmas presents, and, of course, a Christmas sales haul!

New Look Christmas Party Competition

Here is my entry for the New Look Christmas Party Competition! I would say I have a slim hourglass body shape, and because of this, I feel like most dress styles suit me. I could have chosen an in-your-face dazzling dress, but I wanted to choose something that I would buy and wear myself, and feel comfortable in. I think this dress (which you can buy here) suits my style the best. The colour is festive and would contrast against my auburn hair well. The belt would also emphasis my waist, showing off the curves I have. I then chose these shoes to dress the outfit up. They're sparkly and black, so can be worn with anything! I chose the bag because the studs contrast against the feminine lace on the dress. Also, because it's black, like the belt and shoes, it ties the whole outfit together. I then thought the pearl stacked gold cuff was pretty and would go well with the other snippets of gold in the outfit.

Affordable, quick and simple Christmas present idea - Handmade vouchers

My dad is not a materialistic person, so buying presents for him is difficult. This year, I've bought him a t-shirt and designed a mug (I drew a wolf onto a plain mug with a Sharpie). However, I wanted to give him something else as well. After him saying "No, you don't need to get me anything" a countless amount of times last night, I suggested meal vouchers, and this intrigued him. When he would like something cooked, he can hand me a voucher and I'll cook it for him. He's already said that he would like some more of these for his birthday! I'm thinking about doing a variety next time - meal vouchers, car wash vouchers, cups of tea vouchers etc

You can get the printable (gift tag) designs I have here. You can make yours look a lot better than mine though. I only had paper to print on. You could print them on card and make the message on the back a lot more decorative.

Merry Christmas!

Nails of the Week: Illamasqua Creator

Illamasqua's Creator is so different to anything I have in my collection - It's black! I really do like it though. Surprisingly, this is opaque in two coats, has a fairly smooth finish, and doesn't stain.
Even though I adore this polish, I would never pay the £13.50 price tag. I bought it for £3.50 with an ASOS code. As an affordable alternative, I would suggest buying a plain black nail polish and adding a glitter top coat. 

Once this starts to chip, I'm going to add a flakies top coat (I have Nubar 2010 and GOSH Rainbow), which should look amazing.

Also, I've just bought the Models Own ASOS Exclusive nail polish. It looks so pretty! I used to dislike glitters, but now I can't get enough of them. I'm not a fan of really chunky monkey ones though - I like them to apply evenly and be opaque within a few coats.

I think I should limit how many nail polishes I buy in 2013...

ASOS Treats

Nail polish and socks are my weaknesses. Mugs are too, but that's for another post!

Thanks to yourvine.com, I had a £10 off code for ASOS. My sister also had one and kindly gave it to me (Yay!). With the first code, I ordered Essie Beyond Cosy (£9.95) and some cute Oysho socks (£5.99). With the code, these worked out to be about £3 each. With the second code, I ordered my first Illamasqua product - Creator nail polish (£13.50). I ended up paying just £3.50 for this, with free next day delivery.

I must admit, I wouldn't pay full price for these items (I don't like paying over £6 for a nail polish), but they are incredibly beautiful, so I'm glad I was able to treat myself to them for an affordable price. How gorgeous are the nail polishes?! I don't own any similar shades, so they were completely justified purchases ;) Both of them will be perfect for the Winter. Also, the Illamasqua nail polish came in a box. Fancy indeed!

Stocking Filler: ChapStick Hot Lips Kit

Another product that entered the trolley while food shopping the other night was this cute tin of lip balms from ChapStick. For £3.50, you receive a patterned tin containing cherry, strawberry, and apple lip balms. There was a variety of designs to choose from, but I settled on this pretty floral one. I think it would make a great stocking filler or extra present for someone. I may go back and buy a couple more! You can buy them from Tesco and Asda, but I'm not sure where else.

Enjoy your evening!

Treacle Moon's Limited Edition Warm Cinnamon Nights Shower Gel

While food shopping in Tesco the other night, I ended up in the beauty isle, like you do. I always have a quick look at the Treacle Moon products, and I noticed that they have a limited edition shower gel out for the colder months. This shower gel is called Warm Cinnamon Nights and costs £2.99 for 500ml. Before this, I had never tried or owned a warm, spicy product. I prefer fresh, citrusy scents. However, this smells delicious, especially when lathered up. It's really hard to pin point what it smells like. If it didn't say cinnamon on the packaging, I wouldn't have guessed it was cinnamon. I think it smells like warm, cooked fruits. A festive orange scent is also coming through. Anyway, I really like it and will definitely be trying similar smelling products! I've been wanting to try a gingerbread scented shower gel for a couple of months now, so that's next on my list!

I hope you've had a good weekend and are enjoying your Sunday night. I met my aunt, uncle and cousins for the first time this weekend, so it's been a busy one!